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From the late nineteenth century onward, a tremendous current of intellectual vitality has swept over Russia, and the problems raised have been ultimately of religious significance.

Ultimate Questions offers, as the editor says, "a searching look into that area of Russian culture whose significance both for the understanding of that culture itself and for the understanding of the religious searching of our time has not yet, it seems to us, been properly defined."

The scope of the volume reveals a broad range of concerns: Solovyov's insights into the meaning of love and sexuality, brilliant essays on freedom by Fedotov and on creativity by Berdyaev, and a contribution by Khomyakov to the ecumenical encounter of East and West. Rozanov probes the question of Christ's relation to the world, Fyodorov argues for a religious conception of brotherhood, and Bulgakov offers a meditation on the joy of the Resurrection.

Most of the selections have never before appeared in English and were translated for this volume by Asheleigh E. Moorhouse.

Ultimate Questions is an invitation to discover a living body of ideas that are still disputed and defended quietly in the USSR, more openly in the West.

Father Alexander Schmemann (+1983) was a prolific writer, brilliant lecturer, and dedicated pastor. Former dean and professor of liturgical theology at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, his insight into contemporary culture and liturgical celebration left an indelible mark on the Christian community worldwide.